Saturday, August 23, 2008

italian dining @ chiaroscuro tratorria pizzeria

chiaroscuro tratorria pizzeria

one fine evening, i was watching tv and conveniently took one of mom's food magazines (flavours - the good taste, good living magazine) to browse. approaching the final page was a review on chiaroscuro, complete with a picture of a platter of parma ham! the first time i had it was at bermuda & onion and i was completely swept off my feet over this! i knew this is the place we should go to for a celebration of together-ness.

interior & deco

'chiaroscuro' in itallian is an art term used to refer to a technique of using light and shade in pictorial works of art. the interior and deco well reflects the name, playing around with grey cement walls, neutral wood shades and white linen table cloths- a luxury these days. the restaurant is spacious and lengthy with an end dedicated to a open kitchen concept where diners can have a peep at what goes on in the kitchen while making his/her way to the washroom. there is also a woodfire oven, another bonus point for an itallian pizzeria.

homemade ham with pistachios and black pepper (we think?)

3 types of toasted bread and sun dried tomato paste

as with many and most itallian joints, bread and dippings before the arrivals of mains are complimentary on the house. the homemade ham was complimentary as well. the ham has a very strong hint of pepper (as you can see by the little black dots on it), couldn't really taste the nut but it gives a crunchy nutty feeling as you chew it in your mouth. the bread and dipping was awesome nonetheless, we absolutely love the crispy toasted bread!

this is how the ham is sliced

the menu is very classic itallian, some dishes with names you can hardly pronounce but mostly you can understand given the little fine descriptions of each dish. following the recommendations of the food magazine, we ordered the parma ham with melon and house-baked seafood spaghetti.

parma ham with melon- rm32

a bursting flavour of sweet and salty in your mouth!the sight of thinly sliced parma ham still fascinates me and will not keep me from drooling even as i am now looking at the picture. calvin prefers the ham on its own (he doesn't like the combination of savoury and fruits) with a very very small piece of melon. for me, i like the sweetness of the melon to balance the saltiness of the ham. whichever ratio of melon : parma ham is up to you and your tastebuds.

scallops, prawns, squids, mussels, clams with spaghettiwe were both anticipating this dish when it came as it was done in a very fancy and mysterious way- claypot covered with bread dough and baked. when the waiter revealed what's inside, you could see both our faces lighted up with grins and smiles. calvin loves pasta and i knew we must try this out and it surely did not disappoint. the kitchen was very generous with the servings of seafood and noodles. the pasta was bursting with seafood flavours which it had managed to absorb while being baked and to add the cherry on top was the baked dough which you can just pinch off and dip with the gravy.

prices are reasonable and i quote from flavours mag, "You have no reason to bitch about the bill."